UK

Droughts could be declared in “quite a few regions” of the country tomorrow, a source from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has told Sky News. The news contradicts earlier suggestions that a drought would only be declared in the South West. The drought declaration is not expected to cover the whole country,

A drought is expected to be declared tomorrow in the South West, Sky News understands. It follows the start of a four-day amber heat warning, below normal levels in waterways, and England’s driest July since 1935 during which the temperature rose above 40C for the first time. The declaration means people living across the South

A man alleged to be the fourth member of the so-called “Beatles” Islamic State terror cell has been arrested in the UK. Aine Davis, 38, from Hammersmith, west London, was arrested on Wednesday evening after arriving at Luton airport on a flight from Turkey. He was detained in relation to offences under sections 15, 17

All children aged one to nine in London are to be offered a dose of the polio vaccine, after more of the virus was found in the city’s sewers. Vaccine-derived poliovirus has been detected in sewage in Barnet, Brent, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, and Waltham Forest. The virus has also been found in lower

For the first time since records began, more babies were born out of wedlock in England and Wales in 2021. New statistics reveal the number born to mothers who were unmarried or not in a civil partnership has overtaken the number being born to mothers in such relationships. However, the count coincided with the COVID-19

Energy bills are expected to rise even further this winter than previously forecast, according to the latest from energy consultancy Cornwall Insight. Bills are now expected to reach approximately £3,582 a year for the average household from October – up from the £3,359 predicted earlier this month. From January, the amount is expected to rise

NHS England says the number of people waiting two years or more for treatment has been dramatically reduced as part of its plan to address delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic. However, waits of more than two years used to be so rare that the NHS did not start publishing statistics for them until April

People will have to go without food and be unable to heat their homes by October if the government doesn’t take urgent action on the cost of living crisis, Gordon Brown has warned. Speaking to Sky News, the former Labour prime minister took aim at the Conservatives as he demanded further interventions and branded the

Children are being strip-searched by the Metropolitan Police without an appropriate adult present in almost a quarter of cases, with black boys disproportionately targeted, new data shows. The research, published by the children’s commissioner for England, revealed that officers from the force conducted intrusive searches on 650 young people aged 10 to 17 between 2018

Some families are up to £1,600 a year worse off because of the cost of living crisis – even after government help is taken into account. The poorest in society are suffering three major blows to their income in the year to October 2022, according to a report commissioned by former prime minister Gordon Brown.

Rail passengers are facing a fresh wave of disruption as train drivers from several companies have announced another strike over a long-running dispute about pay and working conditions. The 24-hour walkout on Saturday 13 August will coincide with a busy weekend of football, with Premier League games in Manchester, London, Birmingham and Brighton likely to

Archie Battersbee, who suffered “devastating” brain damage, has died after his life support was turned off. His mother Hollie Dance stood outside the hospital and said she was “the proudest mum in the world”. She said Archie was “such a beautiful little boy and he fought right until the very end, and I am so

Archie Battersbee’s parents have been refused permission to appeal against the High Court’s decision which denied them the right to have their son moved from hospital to a hospice to die. The family had applied to the Court of Appeal on Friday, challenging a ruling that blocked their plans to move him to a hospice

Archie Battersbee cannot be moved from hospital to a hospice, the High Court has ruled, denying an application from his family. His mother, Hollie Dance, said she wanted her brain-damaged son to “spend his last moments” together with family privately, but the High Court ruled this was not in Archie’s best interests. The judge has

Liz Truss has refused a Conservative Party member’s request for her to apologise for proposing to link public sector pay to local living costs – reiterating that the policy was “misrepresented”. On Monday night, the foreign secretary and Tory leadership frontrunner said she would save £8.8bn by introducing regional pay boards instead of national ones

The Bank of England has hiked interest rates by half a percentage point – the sixth rise since December and the biggest rise since 1995. This means the bank rate now stands at 1.75% – its highest level since late 2008 at the beginning of the global financial crisis. It will increase borrowing costs for

Archie Battersbee’s life support will be withdrawn at 11am, unless his family launch a High Court bid by 9am to move him to a hospice. His parents plan to file the application by the deadline. They lost their latest legal appeal to stop doctors ending life-sustaining hospital treatment for their brain-damaged son after a European

South East Water has announced a ban on hosepipe and sprinkler use for its customers in Kent and Sussex. The ban will start on 12 August, with an end date that has yet to be decided. It comes just days after Southern Water announced the first hosepipe ban of the year for customers in Hampshire

Archie Battersbee’s life support is set to be switched off at 11am today, pending another last-ditch attempt by his family to postpone the move. The parents of the brain-damaged 12-year-old had said his treatment would be brought to an end on Wednesday morning after they lost a Supreme Court bid to keep it going. But

British Airways has suspended selling short-haul flights from Heathrow for at least a week – as another European airport announced it was extending a cap on passenger numbers. The decision to stop new bookings on domestic and European services until and including Monday is to comply with Heathrow’s cap on passenger numbers, BA confirmed. In